Nepal SC to form Bench for HoR dissolution hearing

Kathmandu, June 1: The Supreme Court of Nepal on Tuesday agreed to form a Constitutional Bench on the basis of seniority of the judges to hear a bunch of petitions challenging the dissolution of the House of Representatives, after differences among justices led to the postponement of the crucial hearing.
In a meeting with the representatives of the Supreme Court Bar Association, Chief Justice Cholendra Shumsher Rana, who leads the five-member Constitutional Bench, said he would amend the regulation for the functioning of the apex court, The Himalayan Times newspaper reported.
The amendment of the regulation, which has been proposed to be carried out within a week as agreed upon by both sides, would be endorsed by the full court, it said.
“It will ensure the appointment of judges to the bench based on seniority,” senior advocate Purna Man Shakya told the media.
Secretary at Supreme Court Bar Rishi Ram Ghimire said that this will pave the way for permanently resolving the dispute surrounding the formation of the bench to resolve constitutional issues.
According to Ghimire, the justices who have potential conflict of interest in the case being heard can skip the bench and a justice who is immediate next in seniority will be picked in the bench for the hearing.
“This is a major breakthrough regarding the formation of the bench to settle the important constitutional issue,” advocate Dinesh Tripathi said.
The Supreme Court, which was to decide on Monday whether or not the two Constitutional Bench justices Tej Bahadur KC and Bam Kumar Shrestha should recuse themselves from the House of Representatives (HoR) dissolution case, could not do so due to differences among justices on the roster for the Constitutional Bench.
The two justices said they had no compunction hearing the House of Representatives dissolution case.
The other two justices on the Constitutional Bench – Deepak Kumar Karki and Ananda Mohan Bhattarai – did not endorse justices Tej Bahadur KC and Shrestha’s views.
Karki and Bhattarai had resigned on Monday from the five member bench expressing their reservation to the formation of the constitutional bench. (PTI)